The And Criminal Law For Misappropriation Of Personal Health Information ( Phi ) Essay

Although sometimes constraints make it impossible to choose a perfect setting, it is important to, where possible, consider privacy. Privacy is one of the keys to good communication, as the client is likely to be disclosing information of a confidential and sensitive nature (Argyle 1998).

In the health care business, there are certain standards and laws that have been put in place to protect our patients and their personal health information. When a health care facility fails to protect their patient’s confidential information, the US Government may get involved and facilities may be forced to pay huge sums of money in fines, and risk damaging their reputation.

The following pieces of individually identifiably information when linked with health or medical information constitute PHI ( 45 CFR 164.514)

First is the privacy rule, which is meant to guard the confidentiality of all protected health information. This is defined as any information that includes the patient’s name or other identifiers, such as a birth date or medical record number. Protected health information can be data that is written, spoken, or in electronic form. The privacy rule came about because many healthcare workers have been far too willing to talk casually about their patients without thinking how this violates their confidentiality, The Final Rule modifies the Privacy Rule to extend direct liability for disclosures of PHI by business associates. However, the rule does not subject

Explanation: According to both HIPAA and ARRA regulations, healthcare organizations compels to allow all reasonable efforts to limit the disclosure of information to the minimum necessary data to accomplish the purpose of the request (McWay, 2010). Based on the information provided, the request for PHI fails to specify the date of validity of the release of PHI. According to the HIPAA privacy rule, a request for the release of PHI is invalid if the request meets the following specifications (1) expiration date not specified that is related to purpose of disclosure, or the date on the request for information has elapse, (2) If the authorization request have been revoked, (3) failure to clearly state the intended purpose of release of information, (4) failure to provide signature and date of authorizing the disclosure of information ( or failure to provide specification of the representative’s authority to act on behalf of the patients), and (5) failure to specify the entity disclosing and the recipient entity (Department of Health & Human Services, 2004). There

NCHICA Research Work Group Privacy and Confidentiality Focus Group. (2001). Using Protected Health Information (PHI) for Research Purposes. Retrieved from http://www.nchica.org/HIPAAResources/Samples/PHI.pdf

HIPAA and HITECH Act help address several problems associated with inappropriate use of healthcare information by authorized users. HIPAA requires minimum necessary infor-mation to be released while HITECH goes into a little further detail but still to release minimum necessary information. Several different organizations need to define how they go about han-dling inappropriate use of information. A guideline must be set within the organization on who will have access to the information and how it is disbursed to other healthcare organizations re-questing records.

6. A breach of confidentiality can result in what consequences for a health care professional? The penalties for violating HIPAA range from civil penalties of up to $100 per person per incident for minor improper disclosures of health information, and up to $25,000 for multiple violations of the same standard in a calendar year. Federal criminal liability for improper disclosure of information or for obtaining information under false pretenses carries sanctions (fines) of $50,000 and one year in prison. The liability for obtaining protected health information under false pretenses with the intent to sell, transfer, or use the information for personal gain or for a malicious action, such as Medicare fraud, carries penalties of $250,000 and/or up to ten years in prison. Severe penalties are in effect if lax security allows health information to be stolen. There is also a risk of a class action suit as well as public relations damage to the institution’s or physician’s image.

Any patient that is seen by a physician within the United States is to be protected by the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” or HIPAA, which was passed into law in 1996 (Jani, 2009). All health care facilities dealing with any protected health information (PHI) are to ensure that all physical/electronic processes are safeguarded from any third party entity or unauthorized personnel according to HIPAA. All health care data to include any medical insurance

This case presents a prime example of privacy violation. The Federal privacy rule 42 CFR, part 2 mandated addition privacy protection for any health record that is generated in the treatment of patients in the federal alcohol and drug program (Hughes, 2002). The HIPAA privacy rule dictates that healthcare organizations must not disclose any identifying patient information, or alert any entity that a particular patient is participating in alcohol/drug treatment program. This type of privacy breach must be reported promptly to the internal review board (IRB), compliance officer, risk management office and the privacy officer at the healthcare organization. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) act also mandated that any healthcare organization or any covered entity under the HIPAA act should promptly notify individual patients about the accidental disclosure of their medical information; the time from discovery of breach of PHI to patient’s notification must not be more than 60 days. In addition, to patient notification, the covered entity must also report such incidents to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and to the media if the breach affects more than 500 patients, and if the breach affects less than 500 patients, notifying the patients and the

Protected health information (PHI) is information in a medical record or set of medical data that can be used to identify an individual and was created during the normal healthcare process (1). Medical identity theft is the use of PHI to obtain medical care, drugs, or submit claims to insurance in another person’s name (2). To help prevent medical identity theft, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 with the purpose of directing how patient is used and can be made available. HIPAA is typically divided into 2 rules: the privacy rule and the security rule. The Privacy rule establishes the standards to protect individual healthcare data and applies to health plans, clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that conduct certain electronic healthcare

Finally, we would like to address Mr. Craven’s assertion that the Hospital used Ms. Reeves’ PHI for “commercial advantage.” The penalties for wrongful disclosure of PHI significantly increase if the offense is committed with the intent to sell or use PHI for that purpose. While HIPAA does prohibit the “sale of PHI” for commercial advantage, it expressly excepts the disclosure of PHI for treatment and payment purposes from the “sale of PHI.” As we discuss in this memorandum, the Hospital did not sell, wrongfully disclose Ms. Reeves’ PHI, or otherwise violate HIPAA.

According to HHS.gov “The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that covered entities apply appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information (PHI), in any form (HHS.gov, 2009).” Of course this applies to the disposal of protected health information as well. And of course there are different procedures to be followed depending on whether the information is electronically stored, for instance. In principle, protected health information must be disposed of in a manner where it cannot be stolen, and where the PHI (in whatever form), is left undecipherable. Here are some examples of how to dispose of PHI according to HHS.gov: =========

Who will have control of the PHI? The patient has control of the PHI, his or her PHI cannot be released without the patient’s permission. The patient knowing this his or her PHI is safe and secure is an important aspect. It is very essential that the patient knows that his or her PHI is safe, that makes the patient feel

As appeared in Fig. 2, an information authority gathers information from information suppliers keeping in mind the end goal to bolster the consequent information mining operations. The first information gathered from information suppliers as a rule contain touchy data about people. On the off chance that the information authority doesn't take adequate precautionary measures before discharging the information to open or information diggers, those touchy data may be uncovered, despite the fact that this is not the gatherer's unique goal. For instance, on October 2, 2006, the U.S. online film rental administration Netix14 discharged an information set containing motion picture appraisals of 500,000